An Introduction To Confucian Cultivation Theory

The core of Confucianism lies in personal moral practice,and the narrow sense of Confucian cultivation theory is the achievement of "inner sage",which includes the ways,process and sequence of the reveal entity to achieve moral-self.Through the study of cultivataion theory,we can grasp the integrity,inclusiveness and unity of Confucianism,and show the positive philosophy of high moral consciousness and social responsibility of Chinese.From the origin of Confucian cultivation theory,the Xia,Shang and Zhou dynasties solved the disadvantages of the mixture of people and gods through the "breaking off the way to heaven ",established an orderly and one moral religious and cultural system,and developed to the Zhou Dynasty to realize the rational trend of religion.Since Zhou Dynasty,"heaven" has replaced "emperor" as the Supreme God,canceling its absolute control power,and requiring the king to maintain the relationship between heaven and man through "matching heaven with virtue" under the view of "Impermanence of Heaven’s destiny".Finally,the consciousness of"morality" is projected to the people with the education of rites and music,forming a perfect moral education system,which makes Zhou people have the value orientation of advocating culture and valuing morality on behalf of rational consciousness.During the three dynasties,people began to pay attention to "morality",but the consciousness of morality just separated from religious consciousness is still weak.Therefore,in the period of three dynasties,the individual’s consciousness of moral cultivation is still very deficient,and there is no systematic theoretical discussion on the cultivation of morality.Until the Pre-Qin period,with the formation of Confucianism,a road of sanctification with the goal of individual moral realization was launched.It focuses on the current human society and believes that only through moral cultivation can human beings achieve the value of life,and constructs a set of theories for personal moral cultivation,which also lays the basic pattern of Confucian cultivation theory:erudite knowledge study,moral practice of the unity of knowledge and practice,and shape disposition of congruence of body and mind.In the continuous development of Confucianism,cultivation theory gradually has a consistent theoretical construction.The theoretical basis of Confucianism around the concept of Li,Ren,Mind and Qi.First,the reason why Confucianism wants to set up the Tian Li、Li is that it regards them as the internal stipulation of unifying all things in the world,and endows them with the characteristics of absolute,universal,objective and metaphysical.In fact,it provides an indestructible theoretical basis for social ethics and the goodness of human nature.As the norm of social ethics,"ceremony" and the innate nature of human beings are all endowed by the "Fen Shu" of the one Tian Li.Therefore,propriety,supported by Li,becomes a theorem that man must obey.At the same time,when human nature is endowed with the Li of the most justice and good,human beings have the obligation to learn to be saints,and the realization of personal morality has become the potential of human being.Second,Ren is a popular,accessible and sentimental principle of living.Through the mind of heaven and earth,it can be connected with the mind of the people.Therefore,the mind of the people is a kind mind with vitality and through all virtues,and can have moral spontaneity.It is also the Ren that heaven and people are born from the same source,so Ren can show the sense of "all things in one",and the reason why people lose the sense of one is the separation between private desires.To establish a sense of unity,one must be able to achieve virtue of Ren.In the view of Confucianism,Ren virtue are the basis of controlling the virtue of all virtues.Only when people are able to cultivate self to Ren virtue,can Ren virtue be used for all virtues.Thirdly,the construction of Qi monism in Confucianism regards the universe as being always in motion and feeling movement.In the endless movement,Qi,as the nature of entity,has become the unity of all things in the world.The movement of Qi’s gasification has connected the metaphysics and the physics,and has dominated the existence of "all matters" and the absence of "the grand void".As a result,people can communicate with the outside world because of Qi,which can also connect people’s body and mind.Therefore,human beings can improve the display of their own vitality by virtue of the intermediary role of Qi;focus on spirit and generate wisdom;change temperament to become good.Fourth,the Confucianists regard the mind as the integration of essence-function.The cultivation of the mind is to "unifying the essence-function".That is to say,through the development of the knowledge content of mind domination,perception,contemplation and virtue,we can find the way to realize mind,and then we can show the intangible infinite,empty,spirit,god,brightness,goodness,conscience and other hard-grasp connotation of mind.By laying the theoretical foundation,Confucianism has established more in-depth and detailed work practice items.First,aspire to be saint.Confucianism first set up the aim of being a saint and learning from saint,and demanded itself by the standard of saint.Correct their will to make their own learning,and put an end to loose and methodical learning.Therefore,Confucianists demand to set up a great,high,far,deep,long and courageous aspiration,and to be firm in it,and to stick to it all the time without any inflexible change.Second,read clearly.Confucian time is inseparable from the study of knowledge,so we need to ask people to be good at choosing good codes,and then to be diligent and diligent in reading,to be proficient in thinking,to be open-minded and thoughtful,to be single-minded and to be good at swimming.Through reading,people can train their thinking ability,understand the meaning of the words,and finally guide and regulate their own words and deeds.Third,it is to explore human physics and reason.For physics,one by one,concrete,objective and in-depth cognition is needed.Through the cognition of physics,we can find the "natural principle" which is comprehensive and comprehensive,and in the process of cognition of physics,we can cultivate the selfless virtue of not drowning in things.For the reason of affairs,it is the reason of human relations accidents that can be found in daily use,and then it can implement the original thing,store the natural reason and change things.Generally speaking,the exploration of reason lies in the transfixion of reason,aiming to make clear all the great functions and virtues of mind.Fourth,self-examination and self-restraint.For the inner work of human beings,we should be biased in the treatment of habits,edify the selling habits to change their temperament.Its refinement and foothold are sincerity and mindfulness to preserve and nourish the natural principles.That is to say,we should ask people for "real meaning "and "self deception",strictly and truly protect the mind of the highest good,and then implement the good to evil.In the practice,we should also pay attention to the core essence:first,pay attention to tranquility cultivation.The confucianists regarded the tranquility as the spirit convergence,calm down the spirit of the entry and so on.Second,太 the act of respect.It emphasizes the "honorific and righteous restraint",that is,the unity of spirit cultivation and probe the principle,as well as the meticulous practice of cultivation without separation and movement.Third,focus on moderation.In order to make the"moderation" can be carried out to the extreme,and can always master the change,timing,through the change of economic power.Fourth,seek for pleasure.People should seek the pleasure of Confucius and Yanzi,that is,they should not be disturbed by fame and wealth,but take pleasure in the saint study,so that they can be pleasure in the principle of obedience,willing to flow with all things without hindrance,so as to practice the appearance of sages.The Confucian cultivation aims at enlightenment to reveal the essence of the mind and thus to become a virtuous and morally complete sage.It is different from the comprehension of knowledge,from language,interpretation,analysis or logic,and it is not even a mode of thinking,nor a category of instinct and feeling.Intuitive recognition is the most direct and entirety to self-consciousness.Through it one becomes enlightened.For the process of enlightenment,it is a right law for people with different roots.However,for the moment of enlightenment,enlightenment can only be a "moment",because when the unifying interconnectedness mind essence are revealed,there is no distinction between space and time,object and self。The whole process of enlightenment can be divided into three stages:first,initial enlightenment.Before the realization of the need for people to practice,focus on the gradual improvement.Then,we can gradually get to the realization of the incredible entity by thinking in accordance with the principle.Second,accommodating enlightenment.After the initial realization,one has to work hard to ensure the gains of the initial realization without losing them,and then add them to the gains.At this time,the realm is to be able to see day and night,dream and conscious,then people will not change the state of the entity;And to understand the meaning of life and death,that is,the invisible part of spirit and of man himself,and to command one life and death over another.Third,circulate enlightenment.At this time,the cultivation is complete,unity of entity and cultivation,the mind essence can circulation,people can naturally develop the use of morality to Benefit another people。The realization of the proof is beyond life and death,the realization of the mind can beyond and distinction of physical.The enlightenment theory of Confucianism also carries the beneficial effect to people:Cultivate virtue and health;Become smarter;A better understanding of life and death.Through the carding of cultivation theory,we should also reflect on its limitations of the times and its value of vitality in modern times.The limitation of Confucian cultivation theory lies in the following aspects:first,the foundation of Confucian ethics is based on the social conditions of private morality,which makes cultivation theory become a tool of "killing people by Li" after dissimilation,suppression and distortion in the society centered on emperor power,father power and husband power,and the social public morality of "contractual" is difficult to establish.Second,restriction on social production.Confucian ethics has the tendency of emphasizing justice over profit,which makes the traditional emphasis on agriculture over business,and suppresses the development of private economy;and because of its monarch’s lack of tools and the thought of taking knowledge by virtue,it causes the traditional emphasis on morality over knowledge,which directly affects the neglect of professional knowledge and talents by national education and talent selection.Third,restrictions on literary and artistic creation.The Confucian tendency of emphasizing the way but neglecting the literature makes the traditional culture not pay attention to the independent aesthetics of literature and art,which limits the possibility of literary personality expression.There are four main points for Confucian cultivation theory to play its value in modern times:first,to inherit the May 4th spirit.We should rethink and examine the Confucian culture,criticize and deconstruct it,so as to purify it and highlight its real value.Second,the identification of Confucian excellent culture.We should recognize Confucianism as an important part of the deep cultural psychology of Chinese people and its value of transcending time and space.Third,face up to the communication between Chinese and Western cultures.It is necessary to understand western culture and all kinds of excellent culture with an open,inclusive and enterprising attitude.Fourth,transform the nature of creation.In order to achieve the creative transformation of Confucianism,we should take the responsibility of the times and culture of Confucianism,consider whether it can build value for the whole human being under the global culture,and consider how to integrate "private morality" with the modernization requirements of science and democracy.